Locke isn’t sure he likes having a body again. His mind often goes back to the darkness, when he and Jenna and Kara were the only things in the whole universe, wholly memory and thought and emotion. Then Jenna disappeared. Being able to communicate with Kara kept him sane, gave him the strength to keep on existing.
Capturing the mind in a computer memory cube when the flesh could no longer survive – that was indeed possible when the three friends were in that auto crash. But the ability to return the whole mind and memory to a living body had to wait for scientific breakthroughs, had to wait 260 years.
When Kara and Locke realize that Dr. Gatsbro has only rescued their minds to show off their replacement 80% human bodies as a demonstration for wealthy buyers who want to live forever, they decide to escape. But this new technological world of robotic firefighters and autofit shoes holds even more surprises than they could have imagined during their year of learning centuries’ worth of information by vgrams.
With the help of a robot cabdriver who dreams beyond her city streets, they find their old neighborhood – all changed, of course – and Jenna’s house, now a museum honoring their friend. Since she had 10% of her brain intact after the crash, her scientist father was able to reinsert her mind and memories into a new body quite soon. Why had he left their minds in the memory blocks all that time?
Discovering that Jenna is still alive turns their escape into a cross-country quest to find her, to close old hurts, to find a way to live now in this future where none of their own blood relatives have survived.
Past and present collide over and over in Locke’s mind as they race across this strange new America, trying to stay away from the authorities and ahead of Dr. Gatsbro’s hired thugs.
Could Jenna truly be alive so many, many decades after their accident? Will she want to see Locke and Kara in the here and now? What do Locke’s increasingly frequent lapses into his cold-storage memories mean?
The long-awaited sequel to The Adoration of Jenna Fox answers vital questions about the three friends while it raises others about self, society, destiny, and love.
Recommended by: Katy Manck, Librarian-at-Large (retired academic/corporate/school librarian), Gilmer, Texas, USA
